The present invention is directed to mufflers having replaceable exhaust outlet tips.
It is common for vehicle owners to change their exhaust system several times a year to achieve an alternative look to their vehicle. Often, in an exhaust system the outlet tip is welded to the (last) muffler of the exhaust system. The other parts of the exhaust system, such as the exhaust manifold, catalytic converter, flexible connecting member(s), first muffler, last muffler and intermediate pipes are often also interconnected by welded pipes so that the complete exhaust forms an inseparable unit. Such a unit has the disadvantage that the complete (last) muffler or even additional exhaust parts must be replaced when changing the outlet tip. Further, since each muffler requires a significant retooling of the assembly line, a long lead time is required when ordering a particular muffler.
As is known in the art, however, the tip may be connected to a muffler by a detachable pipe clamping mechanism as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,859. In particular, such tips are fitted over an existing tailpipe of the muffler. Such a construction, however, adds extra weight and extreme tension, which may result in a break in the tailpipe necessitating the replacement of the whole muffler.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide muffler assemblies which overcome the problems and disadvantages, associated with the prior art mufflers.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a muffler having a variety of detachable exhaust outlet tips to allow a customer of an exhaust (or at least muffler) to interchange tips easily and thus, have various options for his or her vehicle.
In accordance with the invention, there is provided an exhaust including a muffler comprising a casing with an inlet end, outlet end and an outlet tip. The outlet end has an end wall and a number of nuts or bolts welded to the end wall. The nuts or bolts are separately and equally distributed around the end wall to form threaded holes or threaded bolts, respectively. The outlet tip is provided with a tubular member and an annular flange having holes or incisions, wherein the flange is fastenable to the end wall of the muffler casing by screws (i.e, cap screws), preferably, button-head screws. In an alternate embodiment, the welded nuts or bolts could be replaced by threaded bores in a thicker annular end wall portion so that the flange of the tip could be fastened to the end wall by removable nuts. In a further embodiment, the outlet end has two outlet ports and two groups of threaded holes or threaded bolts connected to the casing, wherein each group is distributed around one of the outlet ports and wherein two tips are detachably fastened to the casing, each of the tips correspond to one of the outlet ports.
The muffler according to the invention permits the alternate fastening of a great variety of outlet tips to the same muffler casing. Such tips may have different diameters and designs. Also, two interchangeable tips may be fastened to one casing. Moreover, since the tips are attached to the muffler and not on top of the muffler, such an assembly overcomes the muffler replacement problems found in the pipe clamping mechanisms of the prior art.